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4 Ways to Keep a Healthy Smile

See your hygienist: Having routine cleanings, two times a year, helps to promote good oral health. When cleanings become irregular or skipped it leaves room for the development of periodontal disease. This can cause swelling and receding and/or bleeding gums. As far as health goes, it can affect and contribute to health conditions such as stroke, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and attacks , sleep apnea and premature births in pregnant women. A routine cleaning can help not only to remove stains and tartar from your teeth but hygienists can screen for other health conditions such as oral cancer. Most health conditions manifest themselves in the mouth first so having your hygienist take a peek every six months is well worth it.

Floss daily: Flossing daily helps to remove plaque from between teeth and out from under the gum lines. Not all toothbrushes can reach those areas so flossing is a must. It also helps to prevent tooth decay and gingivitis. When plaque is left behind there is a tartar buildup that happens under the surface of the gumline which can lead to periodontal disease, bone loss or even tooth loss if not properly eliminated. If bleeding occurs during flossing this can most likely be due to gum disease or gingivitis. When you start to floss daily the bleeding usually associated with gingivitis stops after about two weeks. There are other options if flossing is not for you. You can always try a WaterPik.

Give up smoking: this one is pretty self-explanatory for so many reasons. Since we are dealing with teeth in the mouth let me break it down… Smoking obviously stains your teeth. Depending on how long you have been smoking, some stains can be superficial and polished off ; however, there can also be deep soaked stains that are down to your enamel. In addition to harming the teeth smoking can also damage healthy gums causing them to reseed quicker and develop large pockets around your teeth ultimately causing gum disease. If you are diagnosed already with periodontal disease smoking makes it very difficult to help reverse that diagnosis.

Get your dental treatments completed in a timely manner: dental conditions will never correct themselves. If you were diagnosed with tooth decay and given a treatment plan by your dental provider, it’s because you need it. If tooth decay is left untreated it can easily transform a very small cavity into a large tooth abscess or larger decay that takes over an entire tooth. This means that a small cavity that may have needed a filling could turn into something a lot bigger, a root canal and a crown or even possibly an extraction.

Dentists like to keep your original structure of your natural tooth as much as possible. By acting on a treatment that needs to be done early in the game, it can prevent you from losing a tooth. If you were told you need a filling don’t wait until it gets worse… It will get worse.